The Churchill Mk. VII is AFV Club’s 14^th entry in the line of Churchill tanks. Pretty much every variant you can think of has been produced by them. This kit is a dichotomy of both over engineering at times and at other times extreme simplicity.

The Build

Building this Mk.VII begins with a highly detailed engine and engine compartment, so if you want to have all the engine access hatches open you have something great to look at. That being said there is no other interior parts for the entire kit. I chose to keep the engine out and all hatches closed. Moving on body sides, forward gun mounts, and upper panels are added to the build. AFV Club has made this kit very modular due to the large number of variants for this tank. I did not find too many extra pieces but always double check as AFV Club doesn’t always pack everything into the box correctly.

These are a set of two Aftermarket BMW R75 Motorcycle spoked wheels. The R75 was a very popular motorcycle with eth German Army in WWII. These wheels can be used with most of the currently available model of the R75 on the market currently. I have a Master Box kit and used that as a comparison for the kit wheels and used in the final build using the UMM wheels.

The wheels look great and are far superior to the kit standard parts, although the kit did come with optional photo etch parts which would be a lot of work to use.

The second picture shows the Kit standard wheels with the UMM parts.

The final assembly is with the UMM parts.

I do highly recommend these aftermarket wheels as they are far better than the standard kit parts and I am sure better than the photo etch part build up.

Thanks go to UMM-USA for providing this book to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them.

Ever productive Kiev-based ICM is back again with a new offering in its Sd.Kfz. 251 halftrack line; this time with the /18 WWII German Observation Vehicle, with crew. This highly detailed, ubiquitous subject offers two build options; one sporting an MG-34 up-front, and the other a straight reconnaissance vehicle. Included are a highly detailed radio set, a full engine and transmission, and dual, posable doors in the back reflecting the early ‘A’ model design. ICM has gone all out on this gem of a kit, even adding five, fully detailed figures to the mix.

This newest release derives originally from the 2018 release (#35101) and the kit is a combination of two of last year’s releases from ICM—the Krankenwagen kit (#35113) and the Military Medical Personnel figures set (#35620). The well-crafted instruction manual starts with an extensive parts map with unneeded parts highlighted in color and there are quite a few including all the clear parts and the weapons which would not be ideal for medical folks. The kit comes in ICM’s typical box art cover that slips over the front closing hinged cardboard box. Inside are six sprues of gray styrene, a clear sprue, two vinyl tires and sets of vinyl tracks, and a decal sheet featuring two schemes.

The book Panzer-Rgt./Abt.18 on the Battlefield - World War Two Photobook Series Vol.26 is written by Tom Cockle. There are two pages dedicated to the history and combat experience of the Panzer-Regiment 18. This regiment was created primarily as the ‘Tauch’ or ‘Unterwasser’ (Dive or Underwater) and ‘Flamme’ (Flame) unit and the photographs in the book cover the period from early 1941 to late 1942. The photographic history of the Panzer-Regiment 18 shows Panzer II, Panzer III, Panzer IV tanks and even a picture of a captured British Cruiser Mk.IV tank, as well as some soft skin vehicles. The scenery includes vehicles’ travel to/from the battlefront, repair depots, resting spots, battle damage to the vehicles, and some accidents. The pictures shine a light on the weather conditions that the soldiers had to endure: heat, dust, and cold. Many pictures show tank crews at rest or posing with their vehicles.